List of San Francisco State University people

The following is a list of notable people associated with San Francisco State University, located in the American city of San Francisco, California. Many alumni may still need to be added to the San Francisco State University alumni category.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Notable alumni

Art

• Opal Palmer Adisa – artist, writer
• Debra Bloomfield – artist, photographer
• Lenore Chinn – painter^[1]
• David Kuraoka (born 1946) – ceramic artist
• Fred Rinne – visual and performance artist

Business

• Barnaby Dorfman – founder and CEO of Foodista.com
• Chris Larsen – founder of E-Loan and Ripple Labs
• Pierre Le Compte – Bond God
• Manny Mashouf – founder of bebe stores clothing retail shops^[2]
• Cyrus Saatsaz – owner of San Francisco Surf Company
• David Woodard – businessman

Journalism

• Amy L. Alexander – author; journalist for The Washington Post, NPR, The Root, and The Nation, as well as many newspapers
• Mark Arnold – self-published author
• Ken Bastida – news anchor for KPIX^[3]
• Howard Bryant – senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine'
• Stan Bunger – morning co-anchor at KCBS All News 740/FM 106.9
• Ben Fong-Torres – writer, broadcaster, editor at Rolling Stone^[4]
• Cyrus Saatsaz – KNBR Creative Director, host of The Extreme Scene, action sports writer
• Frank Somerville – news anchor for KTVU Channel-2 in Oakland, California
• Jose Antonio Vargas – Pulitzer prize-winning journalist
• Josh Wolf – independent journalist who videotaped an anti-G8 anarchist protest in San Francisco in 2005

Literature

• James Brown – novelist
• Laban Coblentz – writer, educator, science policy adviser, international civil servant, entrepreneur
• Adam Cornford – poet, librettist, and essayist
• Jane Cutler – writer
• Ernest J. Gaines – novelist, National Humanities Medal winner, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
• Leonard Gardner – novelist^[5]
• Jack Gilbert (1925–2012) – poet^[6]
• Eugene Gloria – poet
• Gerald Haslam – novelist, essayist, writer, public speaker
• Jonathan Holden – poet
• Frances Mayes – poet, memoirist, essayist, novelist
• Richard Melo – writer, author of Jokerman 8, a novel set at San Francisco State University
• Alyce Miller – writer
• Anne Rice – writer
• Stephen Rodefer – poet
• Kathy Lou Schultz – poet, scholar
• Ron Silliman – poet
• Kate Small – writer
• Askia M. Touré – poet, professor, and activist associated with the Black Arts Movement
• Vivian Walsh – writer, Olive, the Other Reindeer and other children's books

Media

• Jack Angel – voice actor
• Gary Austin – founder of the Groundlings theatre^[7]
• Margaret Avery – actress nominated for an Academy Award for The Color Purple; earned her B.A. in education.
• Tory Belleci – special effects engineer and cast member on MythBusters^[8]
• Annette Bening – Academy Award-nominated actress, American Beauty, The American President, The Kids Are All Right^[9]
• Alex Borstein – actress on MadTV, voice of Lois on Family Guy
• Christopher Boyes – Academy Award-winning sound editor and mixer^[10]
• Kari Byron – artist, cast member on the Discovery Channel show MythBusters^[11]
• David Carradine – actor
• Dana Carvey – comedian^[12]
• Peter Casey – Emmy Award-winning producer and writer, Frasier, Cheers, The Jeffersons, Wings^[13]
• Roger Chang – computer enthusiast, TV personality
• Glen Charles – writer-producer^[14]
• Vernon Chatman – member of art collective/rock band PFFR, co-creator of Wonder Showzen and Xavier^[15]
• Peter Coyote – actor and author^[16]
• Michael Curtis – Emmy Award-nominated producer and writer, Friends, JONAS
• Hari Dhillon - actor, Holby City, a British drama series
• Deepti Divakar - Indian model, actress, writer and Miss India World 1981
• Walt Dohrn – actor, voice of Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After
• Keir Dullea – actor^[17]
• Dina Eastwood – former television news anchor, star of Mrs. Eastwood & Company on E!; married to Clint Eastwood
• George Fenneman – radio and television announcer
• Keith Fowler – actor, director, educator
• Joseph Garner – filmmaker, director of documentary Craigslist Joe
• Parviz Gharib-Afshar – Iranian performer, director, producer and television personality
• Danny Glover – actor^[18]
• David Gropman – Academy Award-nominated production designer^[10]
• Nina Hartley – adult actress, author, feminist, activist
• Daren Kagasoff – actor^[19]
• Sammi Kane Kraft – actress
• John Lee – member of art collective/rock band PFFR, co-creator of Wonder Showzen and Xavier^[15]
• Madeleine Lim - award-winning filmmaker, LGBTQ activist, and founder of QWOCMAP
• Delroy Lindo – actor^[20]
• Rosie Malek-Yonan – actor and author of The Crimson Field
• Mike McShane – actor, improvisational comedian
• Shawn Murphy – Academy Award-winning sound editor^[10]
• Rex Navarette – comedian^[21]
• Melissa Ng – Hong Kong actress, first runner-up at Miss Chinese International Pageant 1996
• Greg Proops – award-winning comedian and improviser best known for the hit improvisational show Whose Line is it Anyway?
• Jonas Rivera – producer of Up
• Rob Schneider – comedic actor
• Ben Shedd – filmmaker
• Harry Shum, Jr. – actor, dancer, Glee^[22]
• Jeffrey Tambor – actor^[23]
• Ethan Van der Ryn – Academy Award-winning sound editor^[10]
• Janet Varney – actress, comedian
• B.D. Wong – actor^[24]
• Steven Zaillian – Academy Award-winning screenwriter; wrote screenplay for Schindler's List^[25]

Music

• Annette A. Aguilar - percussionist, bandleader, and music educator
• Mike Burkett – lead singer of NOFX
• Paul Desmond (1924-1977) – jazz musician, member of the The Dave Brubeck Quartet and composer of "Take Five"
• George Duke (1946-2013) – musician and producer
• Noah Georgeson – musician and producer
• Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976) – jazz musician and composer of the Peanuts cartoon music^[26]
• Kirk Hammett – Metallica's lead guitarist^[27]
• Dan Hicks - musician, member of The Charlatans, leader of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
• Johnny Mathis – musician^[28]
• Steven Miller – producer, arranger, and record company executive
• Cal Tjader (1925-1982) – jazz musician
• Janet Weiss – drummer for Sleater-Kinney
• John Patitucci - jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player

Politics and government

• Oscar Zeta Acosta – lawyer, Chicano activist, and author
• Tom Ammiano – member of the California State Assembly (13th district)
• Willie Brown – member and 58th Speaker of the California State Assembly and former mayor of San Francisco, California^[29]
• John L. Burton – former president pro tempore of the California State Senate^[30]
• Robert Campbell – former member of the California State Assembly (1980–1996)
• Ron Dellums – former mayor of Oakland and former U.S. Representative from 1971–1998^[31]
• Saeb Erekat – Palestinian chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee^[32][33]
• Larry Galizio – member of the Oregon House of Representatives
• Keith Kerr – military general and gay rights activist^[34]
• Nicole LeFavour – Idaho State Senator
• George Miller – Congressman
• William Wayne Paul (1939–1989) – political activist
• Nemesio Prudente – political activist and president of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines
• Harpreet Sandhu – Richmond, California politician and Sikh community leader
• David Schuman – Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals^[35]
• Mu Sochua – Cambodian Member of Parliament and women's rights activist
• Bill Thomas – former congressman and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
• Leland Yee – California State Senator
• Javad Zarif – Iranian Foreign Minister

Science and technology

• Yvonne Cagle – NASA astronaut^[36]
• Douglas Crockford – programmer, specifier of JSON, JavaScript language developer
• Hillman Curtis (1961–2012) – pioneering web designer^[37]
• Gerta Keller – paleontologist, professor of Geosciences at Princeton University
• Gilman Louie – technologist, venture capitalist, game designer; former CEO of Spectrum HoloByte, Inc., In-Q-Tel; Chairman of the Federation of American Scientists
• Stanley Mazor – co-inventor of the microprocessor^[38]
• Dan Werthimer – co-founder and chief scientist of SETI@home
• Joseph White – psychologist, godfather of Black Psychology

Other

• Bebe Bryans – United States and Olympic head coach in women's rowing
• Vester Lee Flanagan II – gunman in the deaths of two U.S. journalists
• Lee Francis – poet, educator, and founder of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers
• Stephen Gaskin – author, teacher, public speaker, political activist, and philanthropic organizer^[39]
• Joe Jackson – American football player
• Aidan Kelly – academic, poet and influential figure in the Neopagan religion of Wicca
• Moin Khan – expeditionary, went on a solo motorcycle journey from San Francisco, California to Lahore, Pakistan
• Russell Leong – author and philosopher
• Jaime Levy – interface designer and user experience strategist
• Gilbert Melendez – professional mixed martial artist; former WEC and Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, UFC Lightweight contender^[40]
• Jake Shields – professional mixed martial artist, former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, and formerly competing for the UFC^[41]
• Jesse Taylor (attended) - wrestler; mixed martial arts fighter^[42]
• James Van Praagh – self-proclaimed medium, recipient of the 2012 Pigasus Award in the category "Refusal to face reality"

Faculty

• [Craig Abaya]] - artist
• Kim Addonizio - poet, novelist
• Dale Allender - educator
• Herbert Blau – theater director, co-director of the San Francisco Actors Workshop, 1953–1965
• Philip Choy - historian
• Larry Clark – member of L.A. Rebellion School of Black Filmmakers^[43]
• John Collier Jr. - anthropologist
• Roland De Wolk – journalist, Pulitzer Prizer winner
• Richard Festinger - composer
• Bennett Friedman - musician, saxophonist
• Gloria Frym – poet, fiction writer, and essayist
• Sally Miller Gearhart – feminist, science fiction writer, and political activist
• Milton Halberstadt (1919–2000) – photographer, artist
• Nathan Hare – first coordinator of black studies, founding publisher of The Black Scholar, sociologist, psychologist
• S. I. Hayakawa - SFSU president, US Senator
• Paul Hoover – poet
• Jules Irving – actor, director, co-director of the San Francisco Actors' Workshop, 1953–1965, and artistic director of the Repertory Company of Lincoln Center, NYC
• John Keith Irwin (1929–2010) – professor of sociology^[44]
• Luis Kemnitzer - anthropologist, political activist
• Dean H. Kenyon – Professor Emeritus of Biology, author of Of Pandas and People, one of the main proponents of intelligent design
• Michael Krasny – professor of English
• Eric Mar - lecturer on Asian American Studies, politician, member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
• Geoff Marcy – astronomer, discoverer of more than 150 extrasolar planets
• Sarah Ladino Manyika - writer
• David Matsumoto – psychologist
• Joseph McBride - author and film historian
• Dave McElhatton – journalist, evening news anchor
• Sandra Lee McKay - linguist
• Jan Millsapps - writer, filmmaker
• Wright Morris – novelist and photographer, professor of English (1962–1975)
• Pete Najarian (writer) - writer
• Jacob Needleman – philosopher of religion
• Roger Nixon (1921–2009) – composer, musician
• Peter Orner – writer
• Donald Ostrowski – Distinguished Lecturer at Harvard University, Harvard's most published historian
• Wayne Peterson – composer, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Moses Rischin – historian
• Theodore Roszak (1933-2011) - historian, author of The Making of a Counter Culture^[45]
• Vic Rowen - Football player and coach
• Carol Lee Sanchez - poet, visual artist, essayist
• Irving Saraf – Academy Award-winning film director and producer, former professor of film production^[46]
• James Schevill (1920–2009) – poet, critic, and playwright
• Anita Silvers – Philosopher of Science
• Bas van Fraassen (1941–) – Philosopher of Science, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at SFSU, Fellow of the British Academy, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Alberto Villoldo – psychologist and anthropologist
• Carleton Washburne – author and educational reformer
• Roger Woodward – pianist

References